Windows On Arm: Now Or Never

Trying to broaden the PC market beyond what at the time was essentially a single processor supplier, Microsoft launched Windows on Arm in 2015. The software vendor and its chosen processor partner, Qualcomm, have spent billions of dollars to establish Arm as a viable alternative to x86, but they have little to show: after eight years, its share remains less than 2% of Windows PCs. In the meantime, AMD has re-emerged as a supplier, bringing competition back to x86 PC processors.

The partners are now taking their best shot yet. Microsoft and other software vendors have recently ported many popular PC applications to run natively on Arm processors. Qualcomm has developed a custom Arm-compatible CPU designed to eliminate the performance shortcomings of prior products based on licensed Cortex cores.

These efforts could finally jumpstart interest in Arm PCs when the new Qualcomm chip, called Snapdragon X Elite, begins shipping in 2024. Next year also marks an important milestone: the expiration of Microsoft’s agreement to support only Qualcomm’s processors for Windows on Arm. Reuters reports that both AMD and Nvidia plan to deploy Arm PC processors as early as 2025, potentially expanding choices for PC makers.

But there’s no guarantee this attempt will do better than previous tries. PC buyers have shown little interest in Arm-based systems despite their greater battery life. The improvements in performance and compatibility might not be enough; despite best efforts, many AAA games and other applications still run poorly or not at all on Arm PCs. If Snapdragon X Elite doesn’t move the needle, a decade of trying could go for naught.